Tys

Done in place SQL upgrades on SIMS servers loads of times, tends to be straightforward. Worth running a manual backup first and taking a snapshot of the VM too just in case, so you have an easy way to rollback if it goes wrong, but otherwise it tends not to need anything special in my experience.

All correct, but given the questions I've received so far, I think perhaps the listing isn't clear enough - in so much that that this role is based within one of our school clusters, with partial responsibility for only one school - rather than all 18.

I'm really excited to share this opportunity, which falls within my own team. Happy to have informal conversations if you'd like to learn more about the Trust and the role, and arrange visits etc, please feel free to get in touch with me direct. Assistant Trust ICT Manager Link: https://ce0976li.webitrent.com/ce0976li_webrecruitment/wrd/run/etrec179gf.open?WVID=612290007I&LANG=USA&VACANCY_ID=50962815AR Salary: Cambridgeshire SO2 Point 26 (£36,124 FTE) - Point 28 (£37,938 FTE) Note: a pay increase is expected in line with NJC pay scales, expected increase to by end of year and backdated to start date. Hours: Full time 37 hours per week, 52 weeks per year Location: The post holder will be based between Joyce Frankland Academy (Newport, Saffron Walden) and Stour Valley Community School in Clare, Suffolk but will be expected to work across the Trust and to travel between sites. Start date: ASAP Anglian Learning supports 18 schools and over 8,000 pupils across Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk, with further growth ahead. This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the Trust’s digital future while making a real difference to staff and pupils. About the role: Do you have a passion for technology and supporting others? Join Anglian Learning’s high- performing Technical Services Team as an Assistant Trust ICT Manager. In this role, you will: Manage and support IT systems, infrastructure, and services across multiple schools. Lead cross-site IT projects, procurement, and the introduction of new technologies. Provide advanced technical support, ensuring security, compliance and service continuity. Line-manage ICT Technicians, fostering collaboration and professional development. Support schools in using ICT effectively for teaching, learning, and administration. Contribute to budgets, asset planning, and strategic ICT development across the Trust. About you: Strong technical expertise in Microsoft 365, Windows 10/11, Windows Server, networking (VLANs, IP, wireless), and virtualisation. Experience of IT support/management, ideally in education. Excellent communication skills and the ability to lead and develop staff. Organised, proactive, and able to travel between sites. Employee Benefits: Generous Pension Scheme (LGPS or Teachers’ Pension Scheme depending on the role) Cycle to Work Salary Sacrifice Scheme Free membership to Anglian Learning Sports Centres 20 percent discount on Anglian Learning Adult Education Courses Professional Development Scheme Policy Employee Assistance Programme Specsavers VDU Vouchers Boots Flu Vouchers Perkbox – access a range of discounts in-store and online at nationwide shops. Closing Date: 3rd November 2025 (We reserve the right to close this advert early) Interview date: W/C 10th November 2025 (TBC) Start date: ASAP, subject to safeguarding checks We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and we expect all staff to share this commitment and undergo appropriate checks. Therefore, all posts within the Trust are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check. The Trust welcomes applications from all, irrespective of gender, marital status, disability, race, age or sexual orientation. Assistant Trust ICT Manager Recruitment Pack (1).pdf

Sounds like one, or more of the printers has the name of the print server set as their own hostname and are therefore registering in DNS against it. Checking the hostnames are set to a different & unique name on each printer is where I would start?

Do you have a high number of concurrent calls? Those call costs are more than our annual cost (which covers our whole system, inc 3CX and trunks/calls), we pay based on concurrent calls for the trunk much like the 3CX license with all UK landline/mobile included so maybe something to explore?

Ditto with 3CX, will do exactly what you need - we just moved over (Easter) at trust level and costs were a tiny fraction of what we were paying previously. Yealink handsets too. Happy to jump on a call and talk/show you how we have ours setup if you like, just let me know, can also refer to a couple of suppliers (our current one and one I have used in the past) but really you can't go far wrong.

A very familiar story to me personally I'm afraid and under very similar circumstances (another local, well loved telephony provider which was bought out by WN). Saw this at a previous employment too, same story! We're currently in the process of switching away - happy to chat with you around the options we considered if you like, just shout. There is a lot out there now in this market and it is worth exploring a few options if you are wanting to switch away or even if you aren't. Was certainly an eye opener for us

Hi all I am curious to hear how everyone is doing their safeguarding and management of shared iPads/android tablets - what MDM and safeguarding solutions you are using, how you find them and how badly they break the bank (if you can share!)? Have trialled a few but most seem aimed at 1-1 schemes which isn't the direction we are going towards, all our devices are shared use. Many thanks

Any reason you don't want to use PRTG, since you're already familiar with it? I use PRTG sat at our central site. Within the free 100 sensors we manage to fit our core switching & routing for both sites, the important metrics for our HV hosts, and things like service checks for important VMs (is SQL running on the SIMS server) etc. As well as a load of other misc stuff. Zabbix is another option like others above have mentioned, and there's a fair few others out there if you want to go the OSS route. At my previous job I developed our monitoring & reporting bespoke in a suite of C# applications, and may return to something similar at some point because I do miss the flexibility but for now PRTG does us fine and from what you've said I don't see why it wouldn't work for you

All of our recent refits have been HP refurbs (from the normal big names - Stone, ICT Direct, etc) not a single issue in easily 200 machines over the last 6 months. I reckon I will keep us to only purchasing refurb going forwards including servers. Minimum 9th/10th gen Intel to ensure Win11 compatibility and give some future proofing - didn't want to be right on the edge with 8th gen 16GB RAM - I regularly see users well into the double digits usage, both admin and teaching 256GB or bigger SSD - 128GB just fills up too quickly on shared machines I am also starting to agree with what Sephiroth said ref screen sizes, 21" is just a bit small now, most of ours are 24". I would also push for dual screens for admin staff, I'm trying to make this happen over time for all of ours as every time they report big productivity gains. Win11 jump was not really a problem for us. Not a single application problem and it's so similar to Win10 that staff/students have easily adapted. I think the only thing I really did was GPO the position of the taskbar to the left and even then that's not really vital. Most haven't noticed the change in OS and are surprised when I point it out to them!

I did this recently and it was more or less exactly as you say. Quite straightforward. We went to a newer version and had to run a tool that's included in program files to update our database, but if you keep the version the same on the new server (or update before you migrate) you shouldn't have any problems. You can create the backup you need on the webui too.

I think it would depend on how much time has passed since they were deleted/unlicensed - can't hurt to try

It may be easier to do an eDiscovery in 365 instead of pulling this from backups, I think it's in the compliance center now (they keep moving it!). That's what I use for investigations.

I reckon you can get away with just opening SQL studio, go to New query, and run the below which should set the sysman password to password exec sims.db_p_reset_sysman_password Best to take a DB backup before you do this though

Good opportunity to fit some UPS's if they have to go down?